Sunday, April 6, 2014

Another week

Hello everybody!

Another good week. Unfortunately we had a few rainy days, even some thunder, which has shortened the cherry blossom season considerably. So we won't get to use the neighborhood carnival as a finding method for much longer. Although I won't miss all the weird drunk old men trying to give us things. Shameless flirts, all of them.

One of the best things and saddest things of the week was with Ina, a little old lady we met a few weeks ago. She doesn't remember things very well, so we weren't really sure I'd we could teach her or not, but she seemed very lonely so we invited her to come to church with us. Then, when we showed up at her house Sunday morning, she'd remembered! She was all dressed up, it was so cute. She seemed to enjoy her time there and also agreed to go to a baptism with us that one of the other ward's missionaries' investigators was having. But when we took her home her son was there, wondering where she had been, and he was pretty angry. We'd asked her before if she had anyone who took care of her but she said her son lived far away. I don't think she could really remember how often he came. So we won't be able to visit her anymore, which made me sad, but at least she got to have that happy experience once. It was so cute to see her watching the baptism, in the front with all the kids.

We actually got a lot of interaction with the other (English speaking) ward this week. They put on a big 70's dance party that we went to for a little while to talk to our Eikaiwa students and other Japanese people that came. I wasn't sure that disco was a thing in Japan, but maybe our Eikaiwa students have been lovers of American culture for a long time because they seemed to know all the songs. Tom, the funny one who gave us scented toilet paper, was covered in glow sticks the whole time. Some of those students are wayyy too smart for their own good. They correct OUR English and know the most obscure things. Think of what great Sunday school teachers they'd be! Jeez people just get baptized already.

Sometimes it's hard to teach people who are very intellectual because they try to hard to understand things with their head and rationalize it all. As cheesy as it sounds, these things can only be understood in our hearts. You'll go crazy trying to figure it all out using only a weak human brain.

Also, the lady who got baptized in the other ward is doing good and very happy. It's been so cool to hear about her and how her life is changing from the other sisters every night.

We met a really cute young mom this week, Zena from Morocco. She speaks French, Arabic and English, plus is learning Japanese. Her husband is Japanese and also very well-traveled and well-educated, speaking a million languages too. They have a son who's almost two and he's really cute. Zena had interest in meeting with us and learning more, but I think her husband is a little cautious that it might hurt her since she had to choose to separate herself from Islam in the past and it was a really hard decision. He doesn't want her to have to question her beliefs again, going back and forth. He's very nice and I understand where he's coming from, I just wish he knew how happy this could make them all! A lot of people tell us they're tired of searching for truth, and don't want to hear our lessons because it'll just confuse them more, but they don't know that this is the last search they'll ever have to do. Once they realize the gospel is true they'll be free from worry and doubt, and can use it's truths to anchor themselves when times are tough and they feel confused.

We had Mission Leadership Council again this week, which is always good. It was my last time seeing Taneda Shimai because she's going home next transfer - so weird! I'm starting to feel kind of old - like my time is running out fast. It's terrifying. I had a dream a few nights ago that all of a sudden I was back home, having completed my mission, and I just kept saying "not yet! I have to go back, I didn't do enough!" Honestly I think that's my biggest fear. Looking back and feeling like it wasn't enough, that I could have done more. It's awful but it motivates me to push myself every day.

Love you all! Didn't take any pictures this week but here's one of us and Yu from the funny photo booths here that make you look like an alien. Photoshop is a scary thing.

Love, Anna

Yu, Yamauchi Shimai and Anna in a funny picture from a photo booth 


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